Levi's Silly Blog - Climbing

10,000 days young

nospam@example.com (Levi Kilcher) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:09:00 -0700

Yesterday was my 10,000'th day of life (approximately 27 1/3 years). I'd known about this milestone for a few years, and had been looking forward to it for some time. For nearly as long, I've had the idea in my head to climb Mt. Thielsen. So, I managed to talk my roommate and mountaineer extroadinaire, Logan, into coming along with me.

We left the hacienda around 7am, and made the 3+ hour drive to the trailhead near Crater Lake. The sky was a bit hazy, and as we started down the trail, the mosquitos were rather annoying considering our brisk pace. In spite of a stretch of downed pines that had probably fallen last winter, the trail was well maintained. We reached the summit in less than three hours.

Here's a sweet shot of us on the summit:

After an early morning, and a long walk, a nap was necessary:

Because the hike took less time than we'd thought, we had plenty of time in the afternoon to hang out on the side of the mountain, so explored a bit:

And made a bivy site:

After that we just hung out and appreciated the view for a while. We had pesto pasta for dinner and one of Logan's mead's for dessert. And I got to watch my ten-thousandth sunset:

The next morning I awoke to a magnificent a mountain shadow:

And given the clearer skies, I couldn't resist going back up to summit again. Here's me touching the top during summit v2.0:

It was a fantastic day and a half. : )

More images can be found here.

MLK Weekend Adventures

nospam@example.com (Levi Kilcher) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:21:00 -0700

Well, the MLK weekend gave us with a three day weekend so Logan and I drove to Bend on Friday evening for some fun in the snow. We woke early and trekked (I snowshoed, others skied) into Paulina Falls where we were going to be doing some ice climbing. Having left in between groups, I arrived at the falls to watch the leaders of the group get set up to do some climbing. I started taking photos and got these pictures (roll your mouse over the photo without clicking... then roll it away again!):

That massive chunk of ice fell away as I was watching one of the climbers (Rob, he's in the post-collapse picture) get lowered. He stuck his axe out to the left to steady himself, and BOOM! The whole thing just went straight down into the pool of water below. Fortunately, he had both feet in the column of ice that stayed put, but man, what a rush! Afterward, he was blown away by these photos and how much ice had fallen. "I was too close to the ice to tell how much had gone; it was just like one moment I had ice next to me, and the next there was nothing." He'd said. At any rate, it was a pretty crazy thing to watch.

After that, we decided it probably wasn't a good idea to climb on that ice, so we moved to this piece:

This ice was much more stable (route indicated in dark red) and we each got a couple climbs in.

On my second ascent, I was climbing up as the sun was blasting through the ice, and one of the my fellow climbers got this photo:

After the initial scare of the collapsing water fall, it was a chill fun day in the snow and ice.

The next day, Logan, Forest and I headed to town to get some back-country gear. After a crappy morning of trying to figure out what gear to get, we finally picked out our stuff. I rented a back-country snowboard (a.k.a. splittey), and we trekked up Tumalo (across from Mt. Batchelor). We got a couple good runs in before we had to head in. Here's a descent picture of Logan and Forrest:

And here's one I took of myself as it was getting dark and stormy:

The next day, we headed back up Tumalo with a few more folks. There were some really good shots of the Sisters and Broken Top:

Oh, and of course I can't leave this photo of Logan out:

What a super weekend!

Tonsai Climbing Finale

nospam@example.com (Levi Kilcher) — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 19:00:00 -0700

Yesterday, we woke late and Eivin wasn't feeling well so we ended up laying on the beach looking at girls and playing King's Corner. We also got massages... my first Thai Massage. It was excellent.

Last night I woke up feeling really sick to my stomach. After purging ;| for probably 15 minutes, I layed in bed for at least an hour trying not to make too much noise groaning while Eivin was trying to sleep. Needless to say I didn't get much sleep. So now we hadn't climbed the day before because Eivin had felt crappy, but I wasn't going to let my lack of sleep ruin my final day of climbing in Thailand. Once I started climbing I felt pretty good.

Today was amazing... again. We talked Alex and Victor into climbing Humanility with us so that we wouldn't have to haul a second rope - for the rappel - ourselves. Humanility is sorta the quintessential multi-pitch climb here on Tonsai. I had wanted to climb it since I got here, but hadn't gotten around to it until today:
Access Pitch:
More difficult than I was expecting for an access pitch.
Levi: Lead.
Eivin: Follow.
Pitch 1 6a
Fun, straight forward pitch out of cave.
Eivin: Lead.
Levi: Follow.
Pitch 2 6b
Very strenuous, slightly overhung, tricky feet, but with large holds. In my opinion, the most difficult pitch of the climb.
Levi: Lead.
Eivin: Follow.
Pitch 3 6b+
Oh my god, this pitch is unbelievable. You must stem out onto a stalagtite behind you, then transfer fully onto the stalagtite, climb up 2 meters, then transfer back onto wall. Clips are sorta below you, so as you're stemming between the wall and stalagtite and clipping down, you see nothing but air below you for 150'! Wow!
Eivin: Lead.
Levi: Follow.
Pitch 4 6b
Another nice slightly overhung, pumpy pitch with big holds.
Levi: takes a couple falls in a place that should have been easy, but I didn't use the finger slots that I thought were too small for my fat fingers. After a couple falls, I realize I can fit my fingers in there, and the climb is no problem. Argh! So close to on-siting the whole climb, and I blow it on the easier, last pitch! Damn.
Eivin: follow.

There is a fifth pitch, but it looks dirty, and the book says few people climb it. We elect not to because we need to rappel from the top of pitch 4 anyway. Once at the top, we wait for 40 minutes or so for Alex and Victor to get up. We take a few photos, then rappel uneventfully.

On the second - final - rappel, you get dropped right next to "Freedom Bar". As I'm the first to come down, I buy 4 beers and put a bar stool in place for my comrades to land on. Eivin comes first, but tries standing on the stool, "you're supposed to take a seat" I tell him, then he drops suddenly, nearly breaking the stool. Alex and Victor come down afterward, and Eivin takes some pretty sweet shots of me handing them beers just as their sitting on the stool. It doesn't take long for my upset stomach to reemerge. We all grab some food (I have salad), and are all pretty much way too tired to climb anything else. It was a really perfect finale to my time climbing in Tonsai.

Tonsai Climbing 3

nospam@example.com (Levi Kilcher) — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 19:00:00 -0700

Oh man, what an unbelievable day.
Eivin and I were still a bit tired this morning from all of yesterdays climbing so we got a bit of a late start. We'd told a couple guys that we'd meet them out by Escher wall to go through a cave system to Thaiwand wall. These two - Alex and Victor - needed us because niether of them had headlights. Anyway, we didn't want to take a long-tail boat to Escher because we are feeling poor and so we decide to hike to Thaiwand and go through the caves to get them, and then go back through with the two of them.
Anyway, we got to Thaiwand wall, climbed up into the cave and started exploring... and exploring... and exploring. After a while we found a totally sweet little cave that had a couple candles in the corner. We decided to have a quick safety meeting - just to make sure we didn't get lost or anything ;). As we were sitting there, a couple other guys came through. Eivin started making spooky noises, but the guys didn't seem to notice, and we both sorta figured they'd seen us, so Eivin said:
"Hello"
"Shit! You scared the crap out of me!"
Eivin and I chuckle.
"Hey guys, sorry." Eivin says.
"It's cool."
They continued on. After a while Eivin set his stereo up in there and we both put our climbing shoes on. We bounced all around this cave that was probably two or three times the size of a large house, exploring every nook and cranny for probably two hours. After a while we finally sut off the music and moved to the next cave. This one was probably 3 times as big as the previous, and was open to the light in a couple spots. We talked for a while how awesome it would be to make a house out of this place. The master bedroom was chiseled into the side of a column in the middle of the whole cave. There were all sorts of crazy rooms and cool views.
Finally, we found a totally cool looking little ledge to the outside, but it was behind a hole, about the size of a football, and we couldn't fit through. Fortunately, we found another passage to the cliff exactly below this ledge. At first we were like "no, we probably shouldn't", but then we sat and thought and said to ourselves "why they hell shouldn't we? It probably isn't that hard."
However, we needed more than just our one rope to pull it off, so we headed off to find Alex and Victor... who fortunately had actually just gotten to Escher Wall because they had tried climbing somewhere else for a while (while Eivin and I were exploring the caves). After about 10 minutes of trying to explain to these guys what we wanted to do, and them sorta looking at us like "are these guys crazy, or is this going to be really"... or both perhaps, we talked them into coming to check it out. It didn't take them long to realize how cool the idea was and we started setting it up.
We had thought about trying to lead it, but didn't see many places that we could protect on and the rock looked really dirty and shitty. So we all agreed that setting a toprope through the football-sized windows was the best idea. It took us a while to get the rope down, but we finally got it, and it hung right out in front of our lower ledge where I snagged it with a bamboo pole that Eivin rigged up. Though Eivin had found the ledge originally, he let me climb first (awesome bro). The rock was shitty and even though I was on top-rope I didn't want to fall because it would be difficult to get back on the wall because it was pretty over-hung. I got most of the way up but then pulled a rock about the size of a watermelon off. It plunged into the water below. After this I was pretty freaked about all the rock and ended up tiring myself out looking for a better hold. I fell and swung across the overhang-section and caught myself on the other side where I climbed up. I then belayed Eivin up, followed by Victor and finally Alex. We had made it! It was great. We all speculated whether this climb had ever been done before, and we all agreed that this was probably the first ascent. Eivin left a small plastic aligator he'd found earlier that day on the ledge so that people who looked through the window would be able to see that someone had made it onto the ledge.
We'd set up our ropes so that we could rappel down into the water and recover the rope by hiking back into the cave. The rappel was GREAT! Probably 40 meters right into the water. I was the last to come down and Eiving and Victor swung me around a bit. The we all took turns jumping from a nearby boulder while attached to the rope and swinging out across the water, then dropping in. It was so much fun. I can't even describe.
After a while we went back into the cave and recovered our gear, then hiked back through the cave to Thaiwand wall and back home.
It was a really great day.

Tonsai Climbing 2

nospam@example.com (Levi Kilcher) — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 19:00:00 -0700

Today was Great!
Eivin's tended to his scrapes last night and says they don't bother him too bad (nasty rope-burn on hand and gash in big toe).
We headed out to Cobra-Wall where there were lots of nice 6's.
Baby Snake 6c+
Difficult start, nice climb otherwise
Levi: Attempts start. Fails.
Eivin: On-site?
Levi: Follows.
Old Snake 6b
Nice climb.
Levi: Leads... probably hang-doggin... can't recall.
Eivin: re-lead. On-site?
Cobra Venom 6c+
Eivin: Leads... hang-dogs a bit.
Levi: Follows.

After this we headed over to Melting Wall:
Cockroach Beach 6c
Eivin: Tries leading, but doesn't have enough draws to finish. It looks like the anchor at the top of the first pitch is missing. He then downclimbs. :(
The Smoking Room 6b+
Really great, strenuous, fun climb.
Levi: Leads, hang-doggin.
Eivin: Follows clean.

Great day of climbing. By the time we get home, we are both totally pooped. ;)

Tonsai Climbing 1

nospam@example.com (Levi Kilcher) — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0700

Never fear, we got Layton his bus ticket. Afterward, Eivin and I rented motor scooters and cruised into Krabi. It was pretty much my first time on a Bike on the road, so it took me a little bit to get used to, but Eivin is a good teacher... and he went slow for me. In Krabi, we got Eivin some new glasses and had some descent Burgers (good hamburgers are rare - as in hard to find - over here). The girls at the sunglass shop were flirting pretty heavily, but when we told them we were brothers and gestured to our faces and said "same same", they said "no, not same." They didn't think we looked alike! Which is kinda hard to believe considering how many times on this trip we've been asked if we were twins. Anyway, for some reason the girls at the glasses shop didn't think we looked like brothers. Perhaps they need to get their prescriptions checked.

Ok, so we finally climbed today! It was awesome.
We started by heading out to "Firewall" area:
The Groove Tube 6a
Super fun climb inside of a half-tube.
Levi: On-Site.
Eivin: follow.
Polish-Czech 6b
Second pitch of Groove Tube... not as cool, but fun none-the-less.
Eivin: On-Site.
Levi: Follow.
Fire Show 6c+
Fun climb!
Levi: Tries, can't get start.
Eivin: On-site.
Levi: Follow.
White Hot Hernias 6b+
Really fun, strenuos, difficult for a 6b+ I think.
Eivin: Puts up route.
Levi: Tries to lead. Takes 45' fall, stopping 6' from deck! Shit! Levi is fine, Eivin gets banged up in process of catching me. I get back on and finish the route... with much grunting and teeth clenching.
After this, we're both pretty tired, and Eivin is scraped up, so we decide to call it a day.

We were sitting grabbing a bite to eat when we realized that people were crowding the beach looking up at the cliff. Two guys were getting ready to base jump! It took the first guy a few minutes to work up the nerve, but finally he did it! I hadn't ever seen this in real life before. As I was standing there waiting for the guy to go I was getting totally pumped up! He landed safely. What a rush though! The second guy was obviously more experienced. He just stepped up, jumped, did a front flip, and pulled his shoot. Anyway, it was quite a thing to see.

Aaron's Thoughtful Diatribe

nospam@example.com (Levi Kilcher) — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0700

[This entry was originally written under the 6 0ctober entry, but was actually written on october 9th, and was therefore moved to that date.]

I am going to diverge from our daily activites to mention our moral. I think that [up until the 9th or so] it was a bit low. I really can't talk for Levi and so these words are from me only.

Causation:
1) As silly as it may sound the day that I spent with Julia only amplified the amount that I miss her. With the novelty of our climing trip wearing off, in some ways I feel as if I would rather be with her than down here.
2) Althought not annoyed with Levi, the stress of a long car ride, and sitting around for a day is evident. Climbing today has helped aleveate the need for each other to entertain one another. It is a bit funny, on the car ride down we talked about relationships (mostly girls) and how it is healthy to have your own time. Then, although a bit forced into it, we spend the next 72 hours right next to each other. I suppose that our talk of relationships is more encompassing then we mentioned in the car.
3) After being spit off 5.8 slap climbing [over the last few days] I am reminded of how I wanted to become a better climber. I had thought that 4 weeks on the road would help this. But after 2.5 weeks we haven't climbed enough to help much. I feel intimidated sitting in camp 4 with great climbers from all around the world. I guess that I feel intimidated what ever I am doing; climbing, frisbee, skiing.

Resolution:
There is no way for me to get over missing Julia. The feeling does wane, the longer we are apart, and for the most part I don't want to stop missing her. I also don't want my thoughts and feelings to distract me from my surroundings.

Not being couped up has taken all of the stress off Levi and my relationship. I knew that it would and it has been awesome to be on this trips with him. His joy and child like awe of the rocks around us and being out in nature is refreshing and inspiring. It will be interesting moving to Jackson after spending the last 4 weeks in such close quarters.
I know what it takes to be a good climber and suppose that I wasn't prepared to do what it would take this summer. As if it only takes one summer. Maybe someday? I will always be intimadated by other people. I need to learn to be less so, they are just people too. Blah, blah, blah, this is just silly mental shit that I could write about for hours but don't feel like writing about at all.
Anyway, it is much later in the week [filed correctly in this blog] than the day that I am writing under. My moral is much higher and I feel much more balanced.

Journal Entry by Aaron Richards
Transcribed to web by L. Kilcher

Day 18

nospam@example.com (Levi Kilcher) — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0700

Another slow morning, good weather, but waiting for the rock to dry a bit. Finally around 11 we head down to the Manure Pile. With next to no parking we decide that the climbs that interest us are probably crowded and change plans. This makes our first climbin Yosemite "The Grack", a 5.7 over on the Apron of Glacier POint. Our spirits are revived as we are finally climbing. We eat lunch on the top (400-500' up) enjoying the view and the sunshine.
Without a watch we decide to head up a seven pitch 5.9 next. Levi takes the odd pitches and on his second lead passes the anchors and heads off-route on a deteriorating crack. As the climbing gets hard he voices concern and I ask whether he can see the anchors. After looking around he realizes that theyare 20' below and that he has gone the wrong way. I lower him off his last piece and he belays me up. A good lesson on route reading/finding. My lead takes me a ways up, past unproctable slabs over a large drop off. I slowly work my way to the anchors, relieved to be off the sharp end of the rope. Levi heads out over similar terrain and I think is equally relieved to finish his lead.
Now the sun has been gone for a few hours and teh temperature has droped a bit. I head out on more frictiony slabby shit and feel as if my shoes have lost there grip. Levi mentions that the rock reached the dew point and be getting a bit wet. Regardless, I can't make the moves, which seem easier than before and so we bail off the 5th pitch.
Turns out to be a wise choice. By the last rappel we are completly in the dark. Luckily I had packed our head lamps and we make it safely to the bottom. Back on the ground, it starts to rain, and the 15min walk back to the car finds us soaked.
Not wanting to deal with cooking in the rain we head to Curry Village and eat pizza. This distroys both of our stomachs and puts us over our budget. We joke of how Mike would handle our crazed spending.

Journal Entry by Aaron Richards
Transcribed to web by L. Kilcher

Day 17

nospam@example.com (Levi Kilcher) — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0700

Rain and snow it does. All day we spend in the Yosemite lodge cage. Avoiding rain seems all to common on our trip thus far. Reading, writing and talking dominate our day and by mid-afternoon it stops raining. The rock is still wet, but hope of climbing the next day is strongly on our minds. Sitting around all day also inspired us to create a home-made chess board. This is mostly Levi's doing, although I provided the idea of using pennies and then funding the 0.32$.
Two or three years ago I played Levi in chess. Winning, I swore never to play him again because of his boastful attitude and knowing that he wanted a rematch so badly. However, after countless hours of sitting in the cafeteria I finally agreed to a game.
The match was long and drawn out in my opinion. Levi taking nearly twice as long as I for each move. Once again the game down to the final pieces. I having percerviered in keeping a couple of more key players, once again won at the end. Ahh, 2-0 in chess against Levi. I now feel that I have nothing to prove in our mental chess games. The two years of worry about a loss tim has dissipated and I feel a bit like Gary Fischer.
Later that evening we managed to get kicked out of Curry Village's cafeteria before coming back to camp and going to bed.

Journal Entry by Aaron Richards
Transcribed to web by L. Kilcher

Day 16

nospam@example.com (Levi Kilcher) — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0700

We wake lateish, but pull out of camp before any rangers show up expecting us to pay for camping. Unfortunately however, we realize that we had forgotten to refill the propane canister and so we pretty much have to drive to the opposite side of the park to fill it up.
Anyway, we do so, and on the way we pass by El Capitan, and I am completely floored. I had no idea it was so fricking huge. It's amazing. Words can't describe.
After getting propane, we're both feeling a bit groggy from the long drive the day before so we get a campsite and spend most of the rest of the day getting other supplies that we were short on. In the evening we do a bit off bouldering in which Aaron is far more succesful than I (what's new?) We make dinner and meet Cate (Kate? - Caitlin/Kaitlin?) our british campsite neighbor and another british bloke whos name I can't recall. There is talk of rain/snow tomorrow. Disheartening.

Day 15

nospam@example.com (Levi Kilcher) — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0700

Aaron arrives at my house late, and I dilly-dally a bit doing things that should have been done the night before. We finally depart La Hacienda around 8:45. Julia, Aaron and I head down to sunn-side-up for breakfast, and neither I nor Aaron are in all that much of a hurry to get going - though he has two reasons (Julia) and I only the one (avoiding the long drive). We finally drop Julia off at her truck and head out of town around 10:00.
The drive is long.
We stop for bread w/ cheese (a staple of the Levi Aaron Mike crew) and gas a couple times. We chat about the relevant topics in our lives: friends, girls, climbing, ultimate and a dosh of politics/philosophy. We eventually stop for pizza in some crap town south of Sacramento before making the final push toward Yosemite. In the end we only make it to the campground just inside the park entrance where we try to figure out how to pay but end up giving up and just going to bed.

Day 14

nospam@example.com (Levi Kilcher) — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0700

Today starts out much like yesterday. Cold, wet, dark; egg samiches for b-fast.
First game of the day is a sectional championship rematch: Hippo (state of Oregon champs) vs. Rhino. Pink vs. green. Beauty and grace vs. method and training. As should have been the case at Sectionals, the heartless technicians beat the free-spirited hacks by five or so. We went on to lose mostly on hucks to a physical team from Canada. After that game though Ellen and the team presented me with a birthday cake, a card, and a wonderfully off-key rendition of what I think was “Happy Birthday.” Written on the carrot cake was “Mike you are sooo hot!” I didn’t know the team thought of me that way. I was touched…in an uncomfortable place…by I don’t know who…
We stuck around to watch some more of the games. The best part was watching Rhino beat the old Jam (now Justice League…what a horrible name) for the fourth bid to Nationals. After a long, drawn-out, over-the-top fake argument with Bluhmer and Jerome about them taking some stuff (or people) back to Portland with them, we finally get on the road. Ellen and I ride with Slow and Slower while Aaron, Levi and Sierra keep the elk antlers company. My car picks up Thai food to bring back to Mike and Kristen’s place. She has just arrived from a wedding in Colorado and the seven of us and the two dogs sit down for a right proper family-style meal. I find it a fitting crowd to celebrate my birthday with.
And thus ends our saga.
--MD

Compassionate Agnostic Propaganda

nospam@example.com (Levi Kilcher) — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0700

4-things You Should Know:

1. Open-mindedness is an avenue worth exploring.
2. Tolerance builds character.
3. Walking away from fundamentalist religious zealots is okay.
4. God, Goddess, the Great Spirit, the Creator, the Nothing and/or the Everything loves you (Well, maybe not the Nothing, but then you’re probably an atheist so that’s okay too and then we love you.)

--elw

Day 13

nospam@example.com (Levi Kilcher) — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 00:00:00 -0700

We wake at 0600h. It’s dark and cold outside; heavy dew covers everything. Aaron starts preparing egg sandwiches and coffee. I am tired and groggy, but as the sun rises from behind the hills to the east my spirits also lift. Ellen and Levi brave the air outside their sleeping bags and join us. Ellen leaves for a run and we other three trot over to the playing fields.
By no means am I physically ready for two days of Ultimate. We had grand plans of running three times a week while climbing. I went once with Levi at City of Rocks. Plus, I ate too much for breakfast and am feeling bloated and slow. Too late now! Games have started and Aaron Switzer was all over me for not playing enough at Sectionals…don’t want to rile him up. Ellen takes time during the first game to visit a laundry mat. Upon her return she informs me that she forgot her cell phone there. In a true testament to our differences in outlook, she wonders if perhaps it isn’t easier to leave the phone there and just order a new one? She’s joking, but only partially.
Can’t recall details of specific games. I do remember though scorching a defender for a goal in one of the early games and Levi, standing next to Ellen, singing out from the sidelines, “She’s impressed Michael! She’s really impressed!” A little motivation to work harder, to be sure.
Hippo ends the day with a 3 and 1 record, the loss coming at the hands of Revolver. Jay Jannin made the point after that game that too few folks played and those that did looked tired by the end. Aaron and I were definitely guilty of playing a lot but in my defense at least I felt good physically—despite the fat start to the day. Jay pointed out Levi as one of the guys who could and should have played more. I agree, especially b/c he was one of the few players with a decent huck; and, more importantly, no fear in using it!
Dinner is pizza and salad. We are to play Rhino first thing Sunday morning and Bluhm does his best to get in their heads early, heckling hard as they straggle past our table to the counter to order food. Ellen and Jerome hit it off well, finding that they know several people in common from UT and its program in South America. Levi and Aaron shower at Bluhm’s hotel and drive themselves back to the fields. Thumper drives Ellen and me back to our tent city after I shower at his place, the COCUSA, or, as he pronounces it, the COCK USA. He’s pretty funny for a straight-edge kid.

Day 12

nospam@example.com (Levi Kilcher) — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 00:00:00 -0700

Ellen and Mike rise early for a quiet morning walk. The air is still and warm, the fautumn colors on the maples stand in stark contrast to the grey morning sky, and the birds sing for no one but themselves. Aaron is alone in camp when we return: Levi drove to town to check the legality of keeping the elk antlers. The three of us start to break camp. For me it’s like packing up summer, carefully stowing it away until next year. Weather again is beautiful—clear blue sky w/ temps the mid 70s.
Levi returns with the car and we load up. Well, Aaron, Ellen and I load up. Levi carefully—very carefully and very thoroughly and very…slowly—ties the gigantic rack to the rook rack. We other three are kept busy picking up his odds and ends all over camp. Sheesh!
We make several stops in Leavenworth. Our efforts at recycling are rewarded with—squat. Nothing we bring to the center is acceptable except one small cardboard box. So much for saving the world. Levi and I do have an epic game of King of the Hill on a giant gravel pile. It brings to mind the old t.v. show “American Gladiators,” except a whole lot dustier. We toss all the recycling in a dumpster behind a German bakery, where we also buy some yummy pastries and a loaf of bread.
We stop a picnic area just west of Leavenworth on Hwy 2 to enjoy the pastires. It ishere we encounter the right-wing fundamental religious zealot that inspires Ellen’s “4 Things You Should Know” brochure. This old man (mid 80s?) wearing a Seahawks cap shuffles over to our table and hands out pamphlets about Jesus and Redemption. He tries to soften us up w/chatter about football. Strike one—none of us give a hoot about it. He HATES UCLA—strike two—religion and hate don’t mesh. He then starts his religious tirade by condemning all Muslims as blood thirsty, ignorant natural-born killers. Strikes 3, 4, and 5. Ellen and Aaron quietly slip away. Levi and I attempt to debate/converse but some comment sends me off in a huff, telling the zealot that this was the most “dishonest and distisgusting” conversation I’d had in a long time. Our saving grace is all the nice comments we get about the “horns” on the car. Aaron and Levi politely give their thanks while I restrain Ellen from shouting about how they’re ANTLERS, NOT HORNS! Man, zealots all over the place…
We spend the afternoon bouldering. With about 10 big boulders in the area one afternoon certainly only whets the appetite. Alas we must move west to our destiny. Ellen gets a free nudey show as the boys do some skinny dipping rock jumping into the Wenatchee b/f we all fold ourselves into the car one last time. Ellen drops $80 for dinner in some small town Indian place. We arrive at Matt Guy’s hotel room in Burlington around 2030h. Ellen showers (good for all of us), we pick up the Hippo jerseys, buy supplies at the grocery store and head for the fields.
--MD